Spectator TV

What has antisemitism got to do with the act of a mentally ill person who stabbed three people, one of which was muslim and two happened to be jewish? STOP THE LOBBY CAMPAIGN against progressive leaders... and stop ISRAELI atrocities towards the world

It’s become a cliche, but every time I watch this podcast and Gove says something I think (shout), “well whose fault is that?!”. Maddie is brilliant, as ever.

Kemi articulated it perfectly on Laura Kuenssberg's show on Sunday: if these protests & attacks had been against black people or Muslims it'd have been stamped out immediately, and all supporters rightly ostracised for their hideously ignorant racist views.

It’s the anti-britishism you need to worry about

Gove is totally wrong. Parties of all stripes have ALWAYS punished those people that haven't voted for them. Back in the day, Liebour wouldn't do shit for teachers and the professions because they were all Tories. Now these public sector people are Liebour's core supporters with the government constantly bending over backwards for them. Gove is either being disingenuous of naive if he is arguing otherwise.

Labour need to remember the centre to right are a lot more forgiving than the hard left when thinking of where to pivot

What about daily attacks on white British people by immigrants, including their offspring? We don't appear to count. REFORM will smash this coming election. Time for SERIOUS change.

This debate just once again shows that Maddy's political calibration is spot on and Mr Gove's is hopelessly out of touch

With regard siting refugee camps in Green Party run councils I think you are missing the point. Presumably those councils are more accepting of refugees so will raise fewer objections than elsewhere where there may be already objections to refugees. It’s common sense. It’s not a question of punishing people for voting Green.

Why is this a national emergency yet the untimely deaths of Wayne Broadhurst, Emily Jones, Rhiannon White, Albert Alfonso and Paul Longworth, Terence Carney(……the list goes on and on) etc etc isn’t a national emergency yet? Is it because Mr Gove is directly involved in these incidents?

The simple fact that any normal person talking about this is labelled “far right” That’s equally as responsible as mass migration

crap on Gen X once more remove the triple lock

Zionism is a political ideology. Labour government will not hold a public inquiry into the influence of pro-Israel groups in British politics, The house of commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle whos father is a founding member Labour Friends of Israel has personally intervened to block the release of emails he sent to Israeli politicians. Mandelson, Epstien, Mandelson , Blair, Lammy, Priti Patel all had secret meetings with Isreal. It is all connected, thats why they dont want an investigation. Benjamin Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal. All roads lead to Isreal.

If 1/7 of British Muslims have a positive view of Islamic State, I'd like to know what the 6/7 are doing about this. Everyday day we're bombarded with how the majority is supposed to act/behave/think and it's about time we started applying those same standards to groups that need it!

I expect better from people purporting to be journalists.

Liebour are so out of touch that it’s almost laughable. They are the most incompetent and unpopular government in living memory and yet they continue their socially blind policies . A cabinet of clowns.

Gove once again trying to convince us all that previous Conservative governments weren't also utterly complicit in these ruinous policies.

Just ask MI6 where their focus is in this country when looking at extremist activities

I wish they would stop saying "multiculturalism". It does not exist and will never exist. It is a fantasy made up by idiots like these who think they are superior human beings and want to appear god like in their thoughts. Why don't these people actually go and visit any housing estate and see what the reality is.

“Attacks on two Jewish men” - AND A SOMALI. This is insane levels of doublespeak. Why won’t you talk about a plague of racially motivated crimes against indigenous English people? Why is it only when Jews are targeted that anyone pipes up???

Oh grow up , he’s suspended everyone who’s expressed even a modicum of offensivity!!

Labour should never have been given power!

If the UK don’t get better at picking leaders, we’ve only got ourselves to blame

The reason the war on drugs has failed is because there is no war. I live in an affluent area of the country and recently a young has moved into the house next of mine. He smokes weed and sells it. He’s been beaten black and blue by a group of local lads and he now smokes the weed away from the houses, I’ve reported him over 20 times to the police and crime stoppers, never seen a single police officer attend the property. Yet if I posted something about immigrants on X my house would be stormed by armed officers. The police are doing nothing about casual weed use round the country. It’s rotting our communities from the inside out.

Here's a theory to consider: Every crime is an income stream for a criminal. And a criminal is a kind of businessman, more than he is a byproduct of there being acts that are crimes. So a criminal is going to do everything possible to maximize profits, since that's the be-all and end-all of good business values. Do a little sum, using those trite facts as inputs. You create the new crime of using and selling narcotics, the unscrupulous businessmen see a little partial monopoly they can exploit, they set up shop, they seek out suppliers and customers, and they work hard to build this business (including by unscrupulous ways, because they're the unscrupulous variety of businessman). So what happens if you remove the crime aspect from the above? Keep it simple. Focus on just the effect of eliminating the crime. I think what happens is that the business case collapses or weakens? Yes, you still have a drugs problem. If you jumped the gun with this at the request to consider just the effect on the drug dealer of maintaining or repealing just the criminal law part of the legislation, please just rewind a tiny bit and consider just this matter. I think it's part of which all the fighting animals in this pit we're creating might agree, and since it's going to be difficult to find civilized common ground in the midst of the general belligerence of the current crop of know-it-alls and their is-isn't-is-isn't debates it's important to establish as much of that as is possible. I posit that (regardless of what you prejudge the best way to deal with the narcotics problem is) that if you use the criminal law approach it creates drug dealers of the kind willing to break any other law. So your drug dealer will be willing to trade some drugs for an addict's little daughter, for instance. It puts the problem in the control of the kind of people who use this to create yet more problems. OK, now I'll just say that there are almost always more than two choices of just about anything. And it seems to me that "both sides" (there are two sides, because that's how we have to vote - like stupid animals in a fighting pit - for one side or the other) are wrong. I propose a third alternative. Nationalize. Sell narcotics in a way that _minimizes_ profits. (This eliminates liberalization as a good way of dealing with the problem). Sell at cost price plus levies to cover side effects. So you'd have a drug abuser education levy to pay for the cost of courses to ensure _informed_ consent on the part of those who choose to harm themselves this way. You'd also have a rehabilitation levy to cover the cost of trying to put Humpty together again. Oh, and for some drugs, you'd have to require contraception - vasectomy for men, IUD for women, maybe. It's irresponsible to give birth to little babies while under the effects of a drug habit. A hard times insurance levy would also be a good idea. This is for the times when a mother is out of money and desperate enough for drugs that she might to something along the lines of "selling" her children. Rather ensure that there are funds out of which you can extend a loan you don't enforce too harshly. I didn't say I have a way to fix the problem. Nobody has. There are just two other popular ways of sweeping the problem under the rug - of being able to go to the voters and say, "See? I _did something_ about this". What you gain to some extent is a capacity to exercise control of the phenomenon - in the little details, examples of which appear above. Some control is what I'd guess is the best you can do, short of just crushing people into submission. And then you might as well just set up a caliphate and go the whole hog. As far as the real world prospects of that goes, I'd point out that at least while Assad was able to run drug labs, the whole Middle East had a big drug problem that probably still exists. And you'll find that there's an alcoholism problem in Pakistan, too. Full success in prohibition is automa

How much longer is Gove and The Spectator going to keep trying to push this? Who cares? Jenrick's gone to Reform and they've kept him busy and he seems to be having a better time of it. Of course, Tory Girl Lam could always pick up the phone to Jenrick herself ....... Jeez, the Tories are so petty, dull and a very boring shade of blue.

Doesn't really matter. Restore are unstoppable

"The master of our fate and the captain of our soul." How utterly ridiculous: All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. William Ernest Henley, the man who wrote Invictus (the poem from which it is quoted) went on to die of tuberculosis following a fall from a train carriage. The idea that he was the master of his fate is deserving of nothing but ridicule.

Katie Lam's reasons why Nigel Farage would be a bad prime minister was that the necessary work will be boring, and Nigel doesn't do boring. That's the best she's got? Also, she said that the Tories made huge errors in government and that's why they should be given another chance - we won't make them again but Reform will. These are VERY weak arguments. The reality is that Reform & the Tories agree, certainly at a strategic level, on just about everything, so which Party you vote for is gut feel rather than policy differences.

Wages have stagnated for decades, prices going up, people steal to keep their quality of life. Basic.

Giving up at 7 minutes in because Ms Hoffman's voice is giving me a headache.

We have taught our young people to have no respect. no connection to their own cultural or their own society , so many people perceive , they are being ripped off by the government , by the politicians.. Britain has become one of the most expensive countries to live in... the prices of so many things Keeps going up... making our society less cohesive...so why would they care about stealing from a supermarket..

Please send Noa Hoffman on a voice modulation course. Her tones are far too shrill for comfort.

Came in with an open mind... Matt Goodwin absolutely wiped the floor with them

Never vote Tories people. They don't keep their word.

End the triple lock on one lowest pensions in developed nations.

The Labour Party is the most treacherous & genuwinly evil thing that ever happened to this country. The Tories trailing in just behind them. Anyone voting for either of them should have a hard look in the mirror.64

Lots of talk of "islamists"...but would their prophet Mohammed be considered an islamist?

The dog belonging to the people two doors down from me would do a better job of it than Starlin

Trevor Phillips is too intelligent for our today's dumb society! He's the epitome of what Intelligent broadcasting used to be before it was dumbed down, American style!

We're getting dumb and dumber every day: "It was cute when Corbyn rar for party leadership"!

If Britons think Angela Rayner is suitable to be prime minister it shows how low the country has sunk

I would immediately replace him with Nigel Farage to sort that party out.

The only interviewer who actual asks the right and awkward question .

WEALTH TAX NOW! The gap between rich and poor is causing all these problems!

Wealth tax now! I don’t care what party is offering a wealth tax, I will vote for them. Stupidity blaming the poor and those who shoplift. You’re talking about desperate people!

Matt, Reform are now full of ex-Tories - Sahawi ffs

Green party comment on alcohol is a nod to the Muslim vote.

Aim high, vote LOWE. Rupert and restore Britain are the only genuine hope for the British people.

Forget Reform! Restore is a much better party!

Matt, as much as I like you - you can't say "I don't trust THEM" in talking about the Conservatives and then importing a load of Conservatives.

Both Conservatives and Reform have EXACTLY the same policies, only Conservatives come with people who had 5 stabs at leadership and kept failing to get the job done. Reform have different people.... oh wait? 🤔🫢🤗🫣 If we face a future election with TWO blue choices, the centre right will LOSE!

Why has the importance of integrity not been a part of this. Some cultures have it. Some do not.

I work at an International airport and witnessed a small yet shocking amount of immigration courtesy of Johnson. Every day flights would arrive with huge families consisting of a Mother (usually the care worker), a husband, anywhere between 4 to 9(!!!!) children and in some cases elderly parents. Speaking to some of them they had borrowed money to pay someone to arrange a ‘care worker’ Visa from India. The care home they were going to was invariably owned by an Indian owned company, the worker would be allowed 3 months of accommodation and then they were on their own. Most spoke no English. I often wonder where they all went, even now. Thousands upon thousands. Everyone I worked with was stunned. The kids needed school, the elderly parents would need care ironically and certainly health care. Bearing in mind it’s unlikely any of these people will pay any tax the costs must be insane. Absolutely unsustainable. Johnson should be jailed.

Enjoyed listening to this podcast! One thing I’ve been hung up about since July ‘24, is that Labour, having been in opposition for 14 years, had NOTHING PLANNED AT ALL! It was like a very heavy freight train behind a tiny locomotive on an incline! Barely moving at all, and touching its brakes 14 or 15 times(U-turns). That’s a very poor party to vote for at an election!

‘People didn’t want to know’ No Katie, it wasn’t ‘people’, it was politicians and public servants. Basically anyone with a pension or a promotion on the line.

'The Onion Thieves', a stunning cinematic tour de force, nominated for best foreign language film

The class that these people belong to bear the most privilege and thus the most responsibility.journos have been happy to slate criticize and undermine police, teachers and social workers in order to earn a crust while failing repeatedly to properly hold politicians and their inner circles to account. The final straw was Covid and then everyone from Neil Ferguson to Matt Hancock to the PM himself breaking the rules and often the law. Why on earth should anyone behave well when their so called leaders don’t?! The social contract between people and most institutions, whether it is Tesco or your kids school, has really crumbled. People who do wrong get away with it, people who stick to the rules suffer. Who’s the mug?

Hi I'm really sick of well pensioned middle class people say cut triple lock in such a blase way. I've worked 45 years and have pitiful work pension coming in and my state pension will be the largest part of my income.

@Trever Phillips, the triple lock pension still means not having their heating on. So to suggest that they would say do away with the triple lock is for the birds. Only rich people like yourself can have these luxary beliefs. (Whilst sipping your rose wine, so far away from reality).

The Treasury and Civil servants run the country, not the government. Lis Truss has revealed all

Voted Tory in every election since 1990s. Am still utterly aghast at the mess they made, particularly immigration. Very much like Kemi, but simply don't trust the parliamentary party, which is too 'wet'. If I wanted LibDem policies, I'd vote LibDem. Will vote Reform at next election.

Interesting question from the Editor: 'what went wrong with ...'. is the reason I will now vote Reform. I have much respect for Ms Lam (she likes poetry!) and I hope she does well but like many others I could no longer consider voting for the Conservative Party - their 14 years in office, post Labour, were a disgrace to the name 'conservative'. Ms Lam's comment suggesting that the CP has learnt from its mistakes is positive but surely impractical with the current batch of MPs who seem to be more LibDem/Green in their views - not, of course, that they will necessarily be re-elected. Great discussion.

Alcohol kills far more people than any other substance illegal or legal and talk about Cannabis coursing health issues then what does tobacco with it 7000+ chemicals VS cannabis with it 3 chemicals; Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, that are flushed from the plant that is close if not 100% clean chemically because they don't want chemicals making it into the final cannabis product affecting smell and flavour. If cannabis is so bad for you then tell me how is Tommy Chong at 87 and Cheech Marin at 79 still alive well and high all the time seems to have been so bad for them 💩 and here’s a list of a select few very special individuals who have used cannabis Bob Marley, Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Rihanna, Dr. Dre, Miley Cyrus, The Beatles, Kurt Cobain, Jay-Z, Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Redman, Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp, Barbra Streisand, Brad Pitt, Kristen Stewart, Emma Roberts, Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogen, Cardi B, Kirsten Dunst, Matthew McConaughey, Megan Fox, Ben Affleck, Olivia Wilde, Kate Moss, Russell Brand, Lily Allen, Noel Gallagher, Danny Dyer, Cara Delevingne, David Beckham, Monty Don, Sadiq Khan, Jade Jagger, Richard Branson, John Lennon, Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Aitch, Zayn Malik, and Samantha Fox so clearly cannabis does not rob you of your senses and makes you lazy and/or overall less productive, Queen Elizabeth the 1st and William Shakespeare definitively the most creative mind of the 16th century and Alexander Dumas known for the Three Musketeers another great writer, also Queen Victoria and her physician said marijuana is one of the most valuable medicines they possess, Hua Tuo created the first anaesthetic using wine and weed and Francis Crick was one of the most historic scientists of his time, some of the most famous historical figures used cannabis and they literally changed the entire world. Including its positive effects on the global economy, here’s the show of many benefits cannabis plant to start; 1. Pain Relief. 2. Anti-inflammatory Effects. 3. Reduction of Anxiety and Stress. 4. Improved Sleep. 5. Neuroprotective Properties and 6. Appetite Stimulation. 7. Anti-Nausea and Vomiting and 8. Muscle Relaxation. 9. Epilepsy and Seizure Control. 10. Mood Stabilization and Anti Depressive effects. 11. Cancer Treatment Support. 12. Glaucoma Treatment. 13. Skin Health. 14. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptom management. 15. Addiction Treatment and Heart Health. 17. Antioxidant and Antibacterial Properties. 18. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Relief. 19. Migraines and Headaches. 20. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 21. Anti-tumour properties. 22. Diabetes Management. 23. Crohn’s Disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Relief. 24. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) 25. Hair Follicular Regeneration. 26. Menstrual Pain Relief. 27. Anti-psychotic effects. 28. Bone Health and Healing. 29. Reduction of Chronic Inflammation. 30. Improved Mental Focus. And finally 31. Mood Enhancement. The main component of cannabis often blamed for mental health problems is THC; yet cannabis also contains cannabidiol (CBD) and other compounds which has neuroprotective properties; it’s worth noting that we all have an endocannabinoid system designed to receive cannabinoids, this plant interacts with our bodies, and few realize that the human body produces chemicals similar to THC known as endocannabinoids, found across all vertebrate species even if you’ve never used cannabis, if it triggers underlying mental health issues due to our natural internal body production these cannabis-like chemicals and molecules everyone across the entire globe 100% of people would experience mental health problems and we don’t, cannabis does not influence the person that you are; if you are still in control of your body you do not lose control of your actions and this is just reiterated hysteria on repeat.

For years now, The Spectator has traduced Reform at every opportunity while defending the Tories. it was the reason I did not resubscribe a few years ago, and i've been a reader or subscriber since 1980.

8:53 Katie Lam took approximately 2 mins to give a yes answer.

8:06 Trevor half nails it here. Sure, small communities help ringfence public shame, meaning everyone knows everyone else's transgressions, and so you can never escape the glare of public opprobrium. But we had a shared, common set of morals in our cities and large towns before this new age of selfishness and tribalism, which kept most everyone in check. 70 years ago, people lived side by side with strangers in their hundreds of thousands, and in capitals like London, in their millions, with astonishingly low levels of petty and serious crime, by today's standards. So what has changed? Two things... academia and unrestricted immigration. Academia has infected society with layer upon layer of iconoclastic, tradition-wrecking, experimental ideas, leaving all western societies godless and unmoored from our traditions and our histories. And immigration has invited in a world of people who think tribally and clannishly - people for whom morality means nothing more than clan loyalty. These are the true twin reasons for the collapse in standards throughout the west. In both cases, I blame the progressives. Why not? They gave us Nazism and eugenics, so they clearly have an atrocious track record. We should stop listening to (non-STEM) 'experts', and go back to learning from wise ancestors instead.

Claire, You’re never going to convince many Brits that Tories are out front of Reform on most popular policies, you’re mildly delusional. Everyone can see that Nigel and Reform have forced Tories back towards Conservative and Right policies. Left to its own devices the Parliamentary Tory Party is more than 50% Lib-Dem lite.

Cannabis is a gateway drug - this is well know through study. - anyone that thinks everyone will play nice and keep working to pay for thier increasingly serious drug habit that devolves into class A usage o heroine etc is DELUSIONAL - drug related crime will increase exponentially s more people get access to it. - If anyone asked me where to get even basic cannabis my answer would be "not a clue" - you give every bored teenager access to cannabis and you'll lose an entire generation to it - and it's practically that way now - you can smell it on the streets EVERYWHERE, adult teens walk past and the stink is HORRIBLE.

Katie Lam is lovely, courageous young woman.

The Tories also want the opposite of what voters want, which is why they got kicked out of power.

The tories are not on the right. Cinos if you like

The discussion on MPs drinking was far too sober.

Coutinho is dreadful and an embarrassment to the Conservatives. Literally says and does anything to get a ministerial position. Under Sunak she was a cheerleader for dim whitted net zero policies (easily verifiable by searching for speeches she gave as the minister responsible for net zero), now she pretends she doesn't support those same policies. If a new Tory leader did another 180 on net zero, she would be sitting here cheerleading for it again.

Danny Kruger belongs in the Liberal Democrats.

10:14 Please vote this smug ignoramus buffoon into government so reality can correct him, his party and this wicked polarisation which social media has created—a tool Reform UK is very adapt to utilise in marking the out-group. We need a mental and moral reset, because if we won’t listen, then unfortunately we will have to feel and experience the pain of reality bringing everyone back to earth. The more I hear this type of rhetoric the more I’m bracing for impact. Good luck everyone.

in the rispect of muslim brotherhood i'm 100% agreed to be paned coz they are realy dangerous

Ed Milliband needs to go back to the back benches and NetZero dismantled. The prime example of an economy and commerce destroying policy that is only welcomed by 15% of voters (The affluent middle class ones) and has had a horrible effect on the Working Class that will get disastrously worse as we go on....Meanwhile Indonesia is planning to massively increase it's coal-fired power generation over the next 10 years making Netzero savings look *tiny* and pathetic

I really like Claire and Nick. I’d like to see them join reform. The more ‘good’ tories who join reform the better because they have picked up a few wrong uns recently and it’s destroying trust

I wish commentators would educate themselves more about business. Supermarkets operate on low margins but make a fortune on their cashflow and thus generate large profits. Most bankruptcies happen when they run out of cash to pay employees or suppliers. ( also the taxman.) A supermarket buys £10 million worth of cornflakes on 90 days credit. They sell and bank the cash in say 20 days. They thus hold the money for another 70 days before paying for the cornflakes. Very cash rich. Most businesses are not. Imagine building a jet aeroplane. Millions of £'s invested over a few years before you sell. The margin may be 50% but actual profits may be minimal.

Starmers labour are SO bad the opposition partys dont want to get rid of him, in the same way napoleon advised to Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake, Starmers labour is just one mistake after another.

Drugs can be taken safely with the right education and testing centres etc

They all get on because they are all originally liberals.

I voted Conservative for 40 years . Now I'm voting REFORM 🩵

They ain't coming from Germany or Czechoslovakia now. People are not interchangeable.

I’m only watching this for Reform more content like this please! Actual intelligent people, Danny speaks so clearly. Ben from the Tories sounds so old politics with strew man, bad faith, cheap shots. He is normally very good but why the cheap shots? 🤦‍♂️

Already voted. It was 2 postal votes in different areas and both of those vote went straight to the new conservative party.🎉🎉🎉

Failure isn't a winning formula, and the EU and the UK have been in the grip of failures for 30 years now

It is not the meager state pensions that need to be cancelled, it is the very generous public sector pensions given to all the public sector bureaucrats and politicians who have so dismally failed us since Thatcher. The amount we have pay for their pensions is trillions. There are a couple of ways of saying it:- I never knew when I paid voluntary NI contributions that I was not paying for my state pension but paying for Blair's and the rest of the public sector creep's pensions. Theft of private sector pensions, state or personal, was started by Gordon Brown when he abolished advance corporation tax relief. Blair's latest proposals are more evidence of the disgusting way the public sector treats us.

Celts, Romans, Saxons, Normans, French, Dutch then the Empire … this country has always defined itself through change … wtf is he talking about. Reform are just racists

Such a shame. She would have been an asset. Now she will be consigned to the ash heap with the rest.

We're numb to it because we didn't really seem to give a $hit about January 6th. Offenders pardoned etc. So there's a clear signal that political violence is fine.

Reform needs to select retired vice admiral Chris Parry as their defence spokesman. He predicted a lot of the problems we are currently facing.

I have to say that fare dodging was quite accepted among students in the early 1980s. We had ticket collectors at every station and they would know that our excuses for not having a tick were BS, but they let it pass! Not from fear...but a softheartedness for youngsters.

The United Kingdom is in the process of breaking itself up 😱

Body language of NickTimothy = he recognises the need for a united right and the difficulty of getting there.

Thank you for hosting this. Very important and good to make the politicians consider these questions & face the electorate with thoughtful exploration.

toxic ain't a word any man should be using

I’m more surprised that the Tory leadership really believe they can win. I put them at best 3rd and irrelevant or 4th and finished. Kemi made it clear on the Camilla Tominey show she will never ever form a coalition with Reform. Sounds like a “definitely maybe” to me😂

The Conservatives lied to the public and people do not forgive. The bigger problem though is that it takes a rare and exceptional person to be a Prime Minister that gets things done and takes hard and unpopular decisions. I am not sure I can see such a person in British politics today. Yes, some of them are better than others, but I don't see a Churchill or a Thatcher amongst the current crop. I don't see any party being truly radical without such a leader.

What has antisemitism got to do with the act of a mentally ill person who stabbed three people, one of which was muslim and two happened to be jewish? STOP THE LOBBY CAMPAIGN against progressive leaders... and stop ISRAELI atrocities towards the world

It’s become a cliche, but every time I watch this podcast and Gove says something I think (shout), “well whose fault is that?!”. Maddie is brilliant, as ever.

Kemi articulated it perfectly on Laura Kuenssberg's show on Sunday: if these protests & attacks had been against black people or Muslims it'd have been stamped out immediately, and all supporters rightly ostracised for their hideously ignorant racist views.

It’s the anti-britishism you need to worry about

Gove is totally wrong. Parties of all stripes have ALWAYS punished those people that haven't voted for them. Back in the day, Liebour wouldn't do shit for teachers and the professions because they were all Tories. Now these public sector people are Liebour's core supporters with the government constantly bending over backwards for them. Gove is either being disingenuous of naive if he is arguing otherwise.

Labour need to remember the centre to right are a lot more forgiving than the hard left when thinking of where to pivot

What about daily attacks on white British people by immigrants, including their offspring? We don't appear to count. REFORM will smash this coming election. Time for SERIOUS change.

This debate just once again shows that Maddy's political calibration is spot on and Mr Gove's is hopelessly out of touch

With regard siting refugee camps in Green Party run councils I think you are missing the point. Presumably those councils are more accepting of refugees so will raise fewer objections than elsewhere where there may be already objections to refugees. It’s common sense. It’s not a question of punishing people for voting Green.

Why is this a national emergency yet the untimely deaths of Wayne Broadhurst, Emily Jones, Rhiannon White, Albert Alfonso and Paul Longworth, Terence Carney(……the list goes on and on) etc etc isn’t a national emergency yet? Is it because Mr Gove is directly involved in these incidents?

The simple fact that any normal person talking about this is labelled “far right” That’s equally as responsible as mass migration

crap on Gen X once more remove the triple lock

Zionism is a political ideology. Labour government will not hold a public inquiry into the influence of pro-Israel groups in British politics, The house of commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle whos father is a founding member Labour Friends of Israel has personally intervened to block the release of emails he sent to Israeli politicians. Mandelson, Epstien, Mandelson , Blair, Lammy, Priti Patel all had secret meetings with Isreal. It is all connected, thats why they dont want an investigation. Benjamin Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal. All roads lead to Isreal.

If 1/7 of British Muslims have a positive view of Islamic State, I'd like to know what the 6/7 are doing about this. Everyday day we're bombarded with how the majority is supposed to act/behave/think and it's about time we started applying those same standards to groups that need it!

I expect better from people purporting to be journalists.

Liebour are so out of touch that it’s almost laughable. They are the most incompetent and unpopular government in living memory and yet they continue their socially blind policies . A cabinet of clowns.

Gove once again trying to convince us all that previous Conservative governments weren't also utterly complicit in these ruinous policies.

Just ask MI6 where their focus is in this country when looking at extremist activities

I wish they would stop saying "multiculturalism". It does not exist and will never exist. It is a fantasy made up by idiots like these who think they are superior human beings and want to appear god like in their thoughts. Why don't these people actually go and visit any housing estate and see what the reality is.

“Attacks on two Jewish men” - AND A SOMALI. This is insane levels of doublespeak. Why won’t you talk about a plague of racially motivated crimes against indigenous English people? Why is it only when Jews are targeted that anyone pipes up???

Oh grow up , he’s suspended everyone who’s expressed even a modicum of offensivity!!

Labour should never have been given power!

If the UK don’t get better at picking leaders, we’ve only got ourselves to blame

The reason the war on drugs has failed is because there is no war. I live in an affluent area of the country and recently a young has moved into the house next of mine. He smokes weed and sells it. He’s been beaten black and blue by a group of local lads and he now smokes the weed away from the houses, I’ve reported him over 20 times to the police and crime stoppers, never seen a single police officer attend the property. Yet if I posted something about immigrants on X my house would be stormed by armed officers. The police are doing nothing about casual weed use round the country. It’s rotting our communities from the inside out.

Here's a theory to consider: Every crime is an income stream for a criminal. And a criminal is a kind of businessman, more than he is a byproduct of there being acts that are crimes. So a criminal is going to do everything possible to maximize profits, since that's the be-all and end-all of good business values. Do a little sum, using those trite facts as inputs. You create the new crime of using and selling narcotics, the unscrupulous businessmen see a little partial monopoly they can exploit, they set up shop, they seek out suppliers and customers, and they work hard to build this business (including by unscrupulous ways, because they're the unscrupulous variety of businessman). So what happens if you remove the crime aspect from the above? Keep it simple. Focus on just the effect of eliminating the crime. I think what happens is that the business case collapses or weakens? Yes, you still have a drugs problem. If you jumped the gun with this at the request to consider just the effect on the drug dealer of maintaining or repealing just the criminal law part of the legislation, please just rewind a tiny bit and consider just this matter. I think it's part of which all the fighting animals in this pit we're creating might agree, and since it's going to be difficult to find civilized common ground in the midst of the general belligerence of the current crop of know-it-alls and their is-isn't-is-isn't debates it's important to establish as much of that as is possible. I posit that (regardless of what you prejudge the best way to deal with the narcotics problem is) that if you use the criminal law approach it creates drug dealers of the kind willing to break any other law. So your drug dealer will be willing to trade some drugs for an addict's little daughter, for instance. It puts the problem in the control of the kind of people who use this to create yet more problems. OK, now I'll just say that there are almost always more than two choices of just about anything. And it seems to me that "both sides" (there are two sides, because that's how we have to vote - like stupid animals in a fighting pit - for one side or the other) are wrong. I propose a third alternative. Nationalize. Sell narcotics in a way that _minimizes_ profits. (This eliminates liberalization as a good way of dealing with the problem). Sell at cost price plus levies to cover side effects. So you'd have a drug abuser education levy to pay for the cost of courses to ensure _informed_ consent on the part of those who choose to harm themselves this way. You'd also have a rehabilitation levy to cover the cost of trying to put Humpty together again. Oh, and for some drugs, you'd have to require contraception - vasectomy for men, IUD for women, maybe. It's irresponsible to give birth to little babies while under the effects of a drug habit. A hard times insurance levy would also be a good idea. This is for the times when a mother is out of money and desperate enough for drugs that she might to something along the lines of "selling" her children. Rather ensure that there are funds out of which you can extend a loan you don't enforce too harshly. I didn't say I have a way to fix the problem. Nobody has. There are just two other popular ways of sweeping the problem under the rug - of being able to go to the voters and say, "See? I _did something_ about this". What you gain to some extent is a capacity to exercise control of the phenomenon - in the little details, examples of which appear above. Some control is what I'd guess is the best you can do, short of just crushing people into submission. And then you might as well just set up a caliphate and go the whole hog. As far as the real world prospects of that goes, I'd point out that at least while Assad was able to run drug labs, the whole Middle East had a big drug problem that probably still exists. And you'll find that there's an alcoholism problem in Pakistan, too. Full success in prohibition is automa

How much longer is Gove and The Spectator going to keep trying to push this? Who cares? Jenrick's gone to Reform and they've kept him busy and he seems to be having a better time of it. Of course, Tory Girl Lam could always pick up the phone to Jenrick herself ....... Jeez, the Tories are so petty, dull and a very boring shade of blue.

Doesn't really matter. Restore are unstoppable

"The master of our fate and the captain of our soul." How utterly ridiculous: All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. William Ernest Henley, the man who wrote Invictus (the poem from which it is quoted) went on to die of tuberculosis following a fall from a train carriage. The idea that he was the master of his fate is deserving of nothing but ridicule.

Katie Lam's reasons why Nigel Farage would be a bad prime minister was that the necessary work will be boring, and Nigel doesn't do boring. That's the best she's got? Also, she said that the Tories made huge errors in government and that's why they should be given another chance - we won't make them again but Reform will. These are VERY weak arguments. The reality is that Reform & the Tories agree, certainly at a strategic level, on just about everything, so which Party you vote for is gut feel rather than policy differences.

Wages have stagnated for decades, prices going up, people steal to keep their quality of life. Basic.

Giving up at 7 minutes in because Ms Hoffman's voice is giving me a headache.

We have taught our young people to have no respect. no connection to their own cultural or their own society , so many people perceive , they are being ripped off by the government , by the politicians.. Britain has become one of the most expensive countries to live in... the prices of so many things Keeps going up... making our society less cohesive...so why would they care about stealing from a supermarket..

Please send Noa Hoffman on a voice modulation course. Her tones are far too shrill for comfort.

Came in with an open mind... Matt Goodwin absolutely wiped the floor with them

Never vote Tories people. They don't keep their word.

End the triple lock on one lowest pensions in developed nations.

The Labour Party is the most treacherous & genuwinly evil thing that ever happened to this country. The Tories trailing in just behind them. Anyone voting for either of them should have a hard look in the mirror.64

Lots of talk of "islamists"...but would their prophet Mohammed be considered an islamist?

The dog belonging to the people two doors down from me would do a better job of it than Starlin

Trevor Phillips is too intelligent for our today's dumb society! He's the epitome of what Intelligent broadcasting used to be before it was dumbed down, American style!

We're getting dumb and dumber every day: "It was cute when Corbyn rar for party leadership"!

If Britons think Angela Rayner is suitable to be prime minister it shows how low the country has sunk

I would immediately replace him with Nigel Farage to sort that party out.

The only interviewer who actual asks the right and awkward question .

WEALTH TAX NOW! The gap between rich and poor is causing all these problems!

Wealth tax now! I don’t care what party is offering a wealth tax, I will vote for them. Stupidity blaming the poor and those who shoplift. You’re talking about desperate people!

Matt, Reform are now full of ex-Tories - Sahawi ffs

Green party comment on alcohol is a nod to the Muslim vote.

Aim high, vote LOWE. Rupert and restore Britain are the only genuine hope for the British people.

Forget Reform! Restore is a much better party!

Matt, as much as I like you - you can't say "I don't trust THEM" in talking about the Conservatives and then importing a load of Conservatives.

Both Conservatives and Reform have EXACTLY the same policies, only Conservatives come with people who had 5 stabs at leadership and kept failing to get the job done. Reform have different people.... oh wait? 🤔🫢🤗🫣 If we face a future election with TWO blue choices, the centre right will LOSE!

Why has the importance of integrity not been a part of this. Some cultures have it. Some do not.

I work at an International airport and witnessed a small yet shocking amount of immigration courtesy of Johnson. Every day flights would arrive with huge families consisting of a Mother (usually the care worker), a husband, anywhere between 4 to 9(!!!!) children and in some cases elderly parents. Speaking to some of them they had borrowed money to pay someone to arrange a ‘care worker’ Visa from India. The care home they were going to was invariably owned by an Indian owned company, the worker would be allowed 3 months of accommodation and then they were on their own. Most spoke no English. I often wonder where they all went, even now. Thousands upon thousands. Everyone I worked with was stunned. The kids needed school, the elderly parents would need care ironically and certainly health care. Bearing in mind it’s unlikely any of these people will pay any tax the costs must be insane. Absolutely unsustainable. Johnson should be jailed.

Enjoyed listening to this podcast! One thing I’ve been hung up about since July ‘24, is that Labour, having been in opposition for 14 years, had NOTHING PLANNED AT ALL! It was like a very heavy freight train behind a tiny locomotive on an incline! Barely moving at all, and touching its brakes 14 or 15 times(U-turns). That’s a very poor party to vote for at an election!

‘People didn’t want to know’ No Katie, it wasn’t ‘people’, it was politicians and public servants. Basically anyone with a pension or a promotion on the line.

'The Onion Thieves', a stunning cinematic tour de force, nominated for best foreign language film

The class that these people belong to bear the most privilege and thus the most responsibility.journos have been happy to slate criticize and undermine police, teachers and social workers in order to earn a crust while failing repeatedly to properly hold politicians and their inner circles to account. The final straw was Covid and then everyone from Neil Ferguson to Matt Hancock to the PM himself breaking the rules and often the law. Why on earth should anyone behave well when their so called leaders don’t?! The social contract between people and most institutions, whether it is Tesco or your kids school, has really crumbled. People who do wrong get away with it, people who stick to the rules suffer. Who’s the mug?

Hi I'm really sick of well pensioned middle class people say cut triple lock in such a blase way. I've worked 45 years and have pitiful work pension coming in and my state pension will be the largest part of my income.

@Trever Phillips, the triple lock pension still means not having their heating on. So to suggest that they would say do away with the triple lock is for the birds. Only rich people like yourself can have these luxary beliefs. (Whilst sipping your rose wine, so far away from reality).

The Treasury and Civil servants run the country, not the government. Lis Truss has revealed all

Voted Tory in every election since 1990s. Am still utterly aghast at the mess they made, particularly immigration. Very much like Kemi, but simply don't trust the parliamentary party, which is too 'wet'. If I wanted LibDem policies, I'd vote LibDem. Will vote Reform at next election.

Interesting question from the Editor: 'what went wrong with ...'. is the reason I will now vote Reform. I have much respect for Ms Lam (she likes poetry!) and I hope she does well but like many others I could no longer consider voting for the Conservative Party - their 14 years in office, post Labour, were a disgrace to the name 'conservative'. Ms Lam's comment suggesting that the CP has learnt from its mistakes is positive but surely impractical with the current batch of MPs who seem to be more LibDem/Green in their views - not, of course, that they will necessarily be re-elected. Great discussion.

Alcohol kills far more people than any other substance illegal or legal and talk about Cannabis coursing health issues then what does tobacco with it 7000+ chemicals VS cannabis with it 3 chemicals; Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, that are flushed from the plant that is close if not 100% clean chemically because they don't want chemicals making it into the final cannabis product affecting smell and flavour. If cannabis is so bad for you then tell me how is Tommy Chong at 87 and Cheech Marin at 79 still alive well and high all the time seems to have been so bad for them 💩 and here’s a list of a select few very special individuals who have used cannabis Bob Marley, Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Rihanna, Dr. Dre, Miley Cyrus, The Beatles, Kurt Cobain, Jay-Z, Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Redman, Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp, Barbra Streisand, Brad Pitt, Kristen Stewart, Emma Roberts, Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogen, Cardi B, Kirsten Dunst, Matthew McConaughey, Megan Fox, Ben Affleck, Olivia Wilde, Kate Moss, Russell Brand, Lily Allen, Noel Gallagher, Danny Dyer, Cara Delevingne, David Beckham, Monty Don, Sadiq Khan, Jade Jagger, Richard Branson, John Lennon, Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Aitch, Zayn Malik, and Samantha Fox so clearly cannabis does not rob you of your senses and makes you lazy and/or overall less productive, Queen Elizabeth the 1st and William Shakespeare definitively the most creative mind of the 16th century and Alexander Dumas known for the Three Musketeers another great writer, also Queen Victoria and her physician said marijuana is one of the most valuable medicines they possess, Hua Tuo created the first anaesthetic using wine and weed and Francis Crick was one of the most historic scientists of his time, some of the most famous historical figures used cannabis and they literally changed the entire world. Including its positive effects on the global economy, here’s the show of many benefits cannabis plant to start; 1. Pain Relief. 2. Anti-inflammatory Effects. 3. Reduction of Anxiety and Stress. 4. Improved Sleep. 5. Neuroprotective Properties and 6. Appetite Stimulation. 7. Anti-Nausea and Vomiting and 8. Muscle Relaxation. 9. Epilepsy and Seizure Control. 10. Mood Stabilization and Anti Depressive effects. 11. Cancer Treatment Support. 12. Glaucoma Treatment. 13. Skin Health. 14. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) symptom management. 15. Addiction Treatment and Heart Health. 17. Antioxidant and Antibacterial Properties. 18. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Relief. 19. Migraines and Headaches. 20. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) 21. Anti-tumour properties. 22. Diabetes Management. 23. Crohn’s Disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Relief. 24. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) 25. Hair Follicular Regeneration. 26. Menstrual Pain Relief. 27. Anti-psychotic effects. 28. Bone Health and Healing. 29. Reduction of Chronic Inflammation. 30. Improved Mental Focus. And finally 31. Mood Enhancement. The main component of cannabis often blamed for mental health problems is THC; yet cannabis also contains cannabidiol (CBD) and other compounds which has neuroprotective properties; it’s worth noting that we all have an endocannabinoid system designed to receive cannabinoids, this plant interacts with our bodies, and few realize that the human body produces chemicals similar to THC known as endocannabinoids, found across all vertebrate species even if you’ve never used cannabis, if it triggers underlying mental health issues due to our natural internal body production these cannabis-like chemicals and molecules everyone across the entire globe 100% of people would experience mental health problems and we don’t, cannabis does not influence the person that you are; if you are still in control of your body you do not lose control of your actions and this is just reiterated hysteria on repeat.

For years now, The Spectator has traduced Reform at every opportunity while defending the Tories. it was the reason I did not resubscribe a few years ago, and i've been a reader or subscriber since 1980.

8:53 Katie Lam took approximately 2 mins to give a yes answer.

8:06 Trevor half nails it here. Sure, small communities help ringfence public shame, meaning everyone knows everyone else's transgressions, and so you can never escape the glare of public opprobrium. But we had a shared, common set of morals in our cities and large towns before this new age of selfishness and tribalism, which kept most everyone in check. 70 years ago, people lived side by side with strangers in their hundreds of thousands, and in capitals like London, in their millions, with astonishingly low levels of petty and serious crime, by today's standards. So what has changed? Two things... academia and unrestricted immigration. Academia has infected society with layer upon layer of iconoclastic, tradition-wrecking, experimental ideas, leaving all western societies godless and unmoored from our traditions and our histories. And immigration has invited in a world of people who think tribally and clannishly - people for whom morality means nothing more than clan loyalty. These are the true twin reasons for the collapse in standards throughout the west. In both cases, I blame the progressives. Why not? They gave us Nazism and eugenics, so they clearly have an atrocious track record. We should stop listening to (non-STEM) 'experts', and go back to learning from wise ancestors instead.

Claire, You’re never going to convince many Brits that Tories are out front of Reform on most popular policies, you’re mildly delusional. Everyone can see that Nigel and Reform have forced Tories back towards Conservative and Right policies. Left to its own devices the Parliamentary Tory Party is more than 50% Lib-Dem lite.

Cannabis is a gateway drug - this is well know through study. - anyone that thinks everyone will play nice and keep working to pay for thier increasingly serious drug habit that devolves into class A usage o heroine etc is DELUSIONAL - drug related crime will increase exponentially s more people get access to it. - If anyone asked me where to get even basic cannabis my answer would be "not a clue" - you give every bored teenager access to cannabis and you'll lose an entire generation to it - and it's practically that way now - you can smell it on the streets EVERYWHERE, adult teens walk past and the stink is HORRIBLE.

Katie Lam is lovely, courageous young woman.

The Tories also want the opposite of what voters want, which is why they got kicked out of power.

The tories are not on the right. Cinos if you like

The discussion on MPs drinking was far too sober.

Coutinho is dreadful and an embarrassment to the Conservatives. Literally says and does anything to get a ministerial position. Under Sunak she was a cheerleader for dim whitted net zero policies (easily verifiable by searching for speeches she gave as the minister responsible for net zero), now she pretends she doesn't support those same policies. If a new Tory leader did another 180 on net zero, she would be sitting here cheerleading for it again.

Danny Kruger belongs in the Liberal Democrats.

10:14 Please vote this smug ignoramus buffoon into government so reality can correct him, his party and this wicked polarisation which social media has created—a tool Reform UK is very adapt to utilise in marking the out-group. We need a mental and moral reset, because if we won’t listen, then unfortunately we will have to feel and experience the pain of reality bringing everyone back to earth. The more I hear this type of rhetoric the more I’m bracing for impact. Good luck everyone.

in the rispect of muslim brotherhood i'm 100% agreed to be paned coz they are realy dangerous

Ed Milliband needs to go back to the back benches and NetZero dismantled. The prime example of an economy and commerce destroying policy that is only welcomed by 15% of voters (The affluent middle class ones) and has had a horrible effect on the Working Class that will get disastrously worse as we go on....Meanwhile Indonesia is planning to massively increase it's coal-fired power generation over the next 10 years making Netzero savings look *tiny* and pathetic

I really like Claire and Nick. I’d like to see them join reform. The more ‘good’ tories who join reform the better because they have picked up a few wrong uns recently and it’s destroying trust

I wish commentators would educate themselves more about business. Supermarkets operate on low margins but make a fortune on their cashflow and thus generate large profits. Most bankruptcies happen when they run out of cash to pay employees or suppliers. ( also the taxman.) A supermarket buys £10 million worth of cornflakes on 90 days credit. They sell and bank the cash in say 20 days. They thus hold the money for another 70 days before paying for the cornflakes. Very cash rich. Most businesses are not. Imagine building a jet aeroplane. Millions of £'s invested over a few years before you sell. The margin may be 50% but actual profits may be minimal.

Starmers labour are SO bad the opposition partys dont want to get rid of him, in the same way napoleon advised to Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake, Starmers labour is just one mistake after another.

Drugs can be taken safely with the right education and testing centres etc

They all get on because they are all originally liberals.

I voted Conservative for 40 years . Now I'm voting REFORM 🩵

They ain't coming from Germany or Czechoslovakia now. People are not interchangeable.

I’m only watching this for Reform more content like this please! Actual intelligent people, Danny speaks so clearly. Ben from the Tories sounds so old politics with strew man, bad faith, cheap shots. He is normally very good but why the cheap shots? 🤦‍♂️

Already voted. It was 2 postal votes in different areas and both of those vote went straight to the new conservative party.🎉🎉🎉

Failure isn't a winning formula, and the EU and the UK have been in the grip of failures for 30 years now

It is not the meager state pensions that need to be cancelled, it is the very generous public sector pensions given to all the public sector bureaucrats and politicians who have so dismally failed us since Thatcher. The amount we have pay for their pensions is trillions. There are a couple of ways of saying it:- I never knew when I paid voluntary NI contributions that I was not paying for my state pension but paying for Blair's and the rest of the public sector creep's pensions. Theft of private sector pensions, state or personal, was started by Gordon Brown when he abolished advance corporation tax relief. Blair's latest proposals are more evidence of the disgusting way the public sector treats us.

Celts, Romans, Saxons, Normans, French, Dutch then the Empire … this country has always defined itself through change … wtf is he talking about. Reform are just racists

Such a shame. She would have been an asset. Now she will be consigned to the ash heap with the rest.

We're numb to it because we didn't really seem to give a $hit about January 6th. Offenders pardoned etc. So there's a clear signal that political violence is fine.

Reform needs to select retired vice admiral Chris Parry as their defence spokesman. He predicted a lot of the problems we are currently facing.

I have to say that fare dodging was quite accepted among students in the early 1980s. We had ticket collectors at every station and they would know that our excuses for not having a tick were BS, but they let it pass! Not from fear...but a softheartedness for youngsters.

The United Kingdom is in the process of breaking itself up 😱

Body language of NickTimothy = he recognises the need for a united right and the difficulty of getting there.

Thank you for hosting this. Very important and good to make the politicians consider these questions & face the electorate with thoughtful exploration.

toxic ain't a word any man should be using

I’m more surprised that the Tory leadership really believe they can win. I put them at best 3rd and irrelevant or 4th and finished. Kemi made it clear on the Camilla Tominey show she will never ever form a coalition with Reform. Sounds like a “definitely maybe” to me😂

The Conservatives lied to the public and people do not forgive. The bigger problem though is that it takes a rare and exceptional person to be a Prime Minister that gets things done and takes hard and unpopular decisions. I am not sure I can see such a person in British politics today. Yes, some of them are better than others, but I don't see a Churchill or a Thatcher amongst the current crop. I don't see any party being truly radical without such a leader.